Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
Q&A
Debate over consent searches and racial disparities in policing
0:55:40
·
110 sec
The discussion becomes heated as Council Member Cabán challenges NYPD representative Josh Levin on the nature of consent searches and their disproportionate impact on Black and Latino drivers. Cabán draws on her personal and professional experiences to argue against the voluntary nature of these searches.
- Levin cites that over 50% of searches are consent searches
- Cabán argues that these consents are often given out of fear, particularly by Black and brown drivers
- The debate touches on body-worn cameras, paperwork, and the Right to Know Act
- Cabán, drawing on her experience as a criminal defense lawyer, disputes the consistent application of these safeguards
- The exchange ends with unresolved disagreement over racial bias in NYPD practices
Josh Levin
0:55:40
I think it goes back to what I said before, but I think another important thing to keep in mind is that plus 50%, fifty six to 61% of these searches are consent searches.
Tiffany Cabán
0:55:50
Yeah.
0:55:51
Because black and brown drivers are afraid they're going to get killed by the police.
0:55:56
I was I was may I have just a few more moments?
0:55:59
I was a public defender in the court system for nearly a decade.
0:56:03
I'm also a brown person who has a brother, an uncle, a father.
0:56:08
You better believe that when you have a uniformed officer with however they're approaching the vehicle and a gun on their on their waistband, that you do not think sometimes that that search is voluntary.
0:56:22
So that's a bunch of BS.
Josh Levin
0:56:25
Well, this stuff is all recorded on
Tiffany Cabán
0:56:27
want me to wait for the second round?
Josh Levin
0:56:29
Thank Just for the record, council member, this stuff is all recorded on body worn camera.
0:56:33
Have
Tiffany Cabán
0:56:33
And we don't always get those.
0:56:35
They're not always on.
0:56:36
We take weeks and weeks.
0:56:38
Oftentimes, only get that body camera footage if somebody gets seriously hurt.
Josh Levin
0:56:43
There's paperwork that is filled out in connection with a consent form.
Tiffany Cabán
0:56:46
And you have not answered you have not answered the fundamental question of why black and brown drivers are getting stopped more, getting searched more, getting arrested more than white drivers when they represent a smaller amount of the population of drivers at large.
0:57:03
Yet you wanna say that there is no racial bias involved and the data says otherwise.
Josh Levin
0:57:08
And I'm sure you're also aware of the right to know act, so officers have to voluntarily explain what the purpose of the search and the consent search is and get affirmative consent from the person.
Tiffany Cabán
0:57:17
And I'm a criminal defense lawyer, and I know that that doesn't always happen.
Josh Levin
0:57:21
And so for all of those reasons, I feel like it's important perspective when you're talking about searches in this context.
Yusef Salaam
0:57:26
We'll come back for for a second round.
0:57:28
We're gonna move to council member Holden.